Comfort
by Crazedtroll
Summary: After the events of Trajectory, Barry isn't the only one hurting. Instead of leaving the lab, Caitlin goes to check on Harry and discovers what happened to Jesse and the impact it has had.
_**Greetings! After Trajectory, I felt that Barry wouldn't be the only one upset and hurting. In fact, it seemed to me that Harry has been through so much, something had to give emotionally. So, here is what I felt could have happened! A bit Snow/Wells but only if you want it to be. Comments and reviews welcomed. Not my properties and I make no monies from this! Thanks - CT**_

Thunder rumbled, echoing eerily in the empty hallway. Pausing, Caitlin took a breath before continuing towards the sleeping quarters. They had all gone home, leaving Harry and Jesse to go about their nightly routine. At her car, a nagging feeling had dragged Caitlin back inside to check on Harry and Jesse. So, with one last deep breath as she rounded the corner, she called out, "Knock, knock."

She entered an empty room. An oddly empty room. Looking around, she realized that one of the beds had recently been remade and the bedside table stood empty, sterile almost. Harry had said Jesse had gone out. This didn't look like a small outing. It looked like Jesse had taken all her stuff with her. Determined to find out what was going on, Caitlin left the room to look for the Earth 2 native. Her first stop was the locker room. She paused briefly at the door before taking a deep breath and striding into the men's room. "Harry," she called loudly at the entrance. Only the drip of water answered. Pursing her lips together she ventured into locker room proper.

It was a mess. Water and shattered mirror littered the floor. It looked like someone had punched one of the full length mirrors. Repeatedly. Looking closely, Caitlin wasn't surprised to see blood mixed in with the water. Cisco had told her about the time Harry had thrown stuff on the floor in frustration. What had set the older man off this time? Perhaps it had something to do with Jesse's absence. Now, where would have Harry gone? More thunder rumbled overhead as Caitlin headed to the cortex. Once there she pulled up all the security cameras, scouring the images until she came across one of a dark hunched figure sitting out in the rain.

A few minutes later, Caitlin stood in the conference room lookkng out at the balcony where Harry sat rocking back and forth playing the same message over and over again. Caitlin had already heard it two times through. Each time it played Harry seemed to sink into himself, sobs shaking his shoulders. The third time the message started to play, Caitlin had enough. Blinking to clear her thoughts, she slammed the conference room door and, making no effort to keep silent, she headed for the balcony.

"Harry!" Caitlin called out, though she hoped her noise had announced her. Pulling the balcony door open she stepped out into the storm. As Caitlin stepped out, Harry bolted to his feet, shoving his hand into a pocket, the recording stopped. His back to her, he hunched his shoulders up higher and was staring at the ground.

"What," he growled out. If she hadn't known what was going on, Caitlin might have believed the tough guy act.

"I've been looking for you," Caitlin began. His shoulders trembled and she realized he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. How much of the real Harrison Wells did he let people see? How much of it was just a mask he presented to the world? Probably all of it. Stepping out and into the rain, she reached out and touched his shoulder. At her touch, he pulled violently away, slipping on the wet concrete.

"You found me," he managed angrily.

"Why did Jesse leave?" Caitlin cut straight to the chase. She refused to dance around it all night.

For an instant his tear stained face turned towards her, before snapping away once more. Deciding to push the issue, Caitlin stepped into his personal space. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. "You heard?" He whispered the question, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Yes. What happened?"

"She found out I killed Turtle," Harry whispered out. To Caitlin's shock, he then stumbled to the wall, leaned against it, slid down, and sat in the rain. "All this time I've been trying to protect her, give her what she needed, and instead I've driven her away." He sniffled, tears welling up in his already red eyes. "At least when Zoom had her, I had a goal. Save Jesse. Now," he sniffled and looked away. Sobbing openly, he rubbed at his eyes. Caitlin was not surprised to see that his knuckles were red and raw on both hands. She was a little shocked to see bits of mirror poking out of one hand. "It turns out I'm the villain Jesse had to be free from." He couldn't seem to bring himself to look at her. "My baby girl. Out there, all alone, with no protection."

Caitlin crouched, watching and waiting. For several long minutes they sat in the rain, thunder rumbling around them, Harry's sobs wracking his body and blood welling up on his skinned knuckles. He didn't seem aware of his own injuries. "So," Caitlin began when she was certain that he was done, "you tried to destroy your reflection?"

"I couldn't stand to look at myself," he answered honestly. "The man who drove his baby girl away." Water dripped from the tip of his nose as he stared down at the ground.

"The man who would do anything to protect and save her," Caitlin countered, reaching out to stroke his of speaking he just stared at her, blinking away tears and raindrops. "Come on, before we get struck by lightning." Reaching out, Caitlin gently took him by an elbow and helped him stand. In a slow, shuffling walk, they headed inside. As they walked towards the cortex, Harry's tremors turned to all out shivering.

"Why didn't you tell us about Jesse?" Caitlin asked as she guided them to the women's locker room. It seemed the rain had numbed his physical pain as well as his brain in general. Harry was staring at her, dumbstruck. He couldn't seem to comprehend what was happening. Grabbing some towels from a stack she had personally placed there that morning, Caitlin kept her grip on his elbow and guided him back to the showers.

"She isn't your responsibility," Harry answered. He was blinking rapidly, as though he was struggling to understand. Emotions held in check for too long seemed to have taken his mind with them when they'd escaped.

"Right." Caitlin arched an eyebrow at him. "Strip out of those wet clothes and get in the shower. There are towels here. I'm going to get some clean sweats." She sat him down on the bench, plopped the big fluffy towels next to him, and patted him gently on the thigh.

Moving as quickly as she could, she left the locker room and headed for the storage room. It didn't take long for her to find some clean sweats in his size. Once she had both a top and a bottom, she headed back to the locker room as fast as she could. On the bench, Harry hadn't moved. When Caitlin returned to his side, he slowly wiped tears away. "You knew about Turtle?"

Before answering him, Caitlin turned one of the showers on and made sure it was set to hot. "Yes. I think Zoom wanted us to know. We figured it out while you were in the pipeline. Since you came clean when Barry's life was on the line, we decided the Turtle incident could be forgiven. Next time, no killing prisoners. Ask for help and we'll figure out a way to get the samples needed." Returning to his side, she sat next to him. "Come on, let's get these wet clothes off. You're freezing cold and weakening your immune system as we speak. Keep this up and your body won't be able to fight anything off." He didn't move, so Caitlin grabbed the hem of his shirt, since he wasn't wearing his usual hooded layer, and pulled. "Arms up." At least he followed that basic command. After she tossed the shirt towards a laundry hamper, she took the hem of his skivvy. "Come on, skin the rabbit."

When the skivvy was tossed towards the hamper, he whimpered some, arms wrapping around his bare chest. "My wife used to say that to Jesse."

"Yeah? What would she say for the trousers?" She wasn't expecting an answer, but a sad smile ghosted over his face as he stared into memories of the past.

"Silly, you have to take your shoes off first and it helps if you undo the top button," he answered, his voice pitching higher and his accent changing. "Jesse would run around the house with her jeans down around her ankles. 'You help me,' she'd beg in this little toddler voice." He huffed, more tears welling up.

"Shoes," Caitlin ordered. To her surprise, he kicked them off, stood, undid his belt and button, and dropped his trousers. Shock. He was in shock. It was obvious. "Hands on my shoulders," Caitlin instructed, standing to face him. Following her directions, he numbly put both bruised, bloodied, swollen hands on her shoulders. "Right foot." When he lifted his right foot Caitlin pushed the soaked trousers out of the way. "Down. Now left foot." Trousers out of the way, he stood before her, shivering, eyes glazed over and in nothing but his boxers. "Boxers off and into the shower."

A moment later he was naked and standing beneath the hot stream. Caitlin watched him from the corner of her eye as she finished getting his clothes into the hamper. How long had he kept those emotions bottled up? Jesse leaving had apparently pushed him over an edge, and now Caitlin had to pull him up from whatever pit of pain he'd fallen into. At least she was a doctor, trained to help people. Having someone to help enabled her to push her own pain to the back of her mind. As she talked Harry through soaping himself up, washing his hair, and rinsing off, Caitlin felt some of her own sadness slip out, along with a touch of anger. When she had Harry turn the water off, he remained silent but responsive to verbal commands so that he dried himself and got dressed. His injured hands made it so that she had to help him some, but nothing felt awkward.

Eventually they made it to the cortex, Harry padding along in bare feet, loosely holding Caitlin's hand in his. She'd x-rayed both hands and was not at all shocked to see some broken bones in the left. Caitlin had him sit on one of the hospital beds as she cleaned the wounds, removed mirror bits, set bones, bandaged cuts, and then splinted the broken left hand. "You really did a number on these," she informed him.

"Better to let the anger out a little bit at a time then all at once," he answered, to her surprise. It was the first he'd spoken since his step back into his past. Blue eyes blinking rapidly, he looked around the room, his gaze focusing on Caitlin. "Snow," he whispered.

"Wells," Caitlin replied, looking up from his hands. Colour was returning to his face and his red, puffy eyes reflected confusion and irritation. As he looked around his breathing sped up so that he was almost hyperventilating. "Calm down," Caitlin ordered.

"I'm sorry," he instantly replied. "You shouldn't have had to deal with that. I don't know what came over me."

"They're called emotions," Caitlin explained. "Common in humans and sometimes, if you bottle them up, they get the best of us." She could see him getting ready to shut her out once more. Not this time. They needed each other at the moment. Finished with his hands, she sat down on the bed next to him, their shoulders touching. Gently she took the hand she had just finished with and held it gingerly in her own. "Harry," she began, "I am here for you. I am your friend. Please don't shut me out."

"You have enough troubles of your own," Harry replied. "I don't want to burden you with mine." A sigh sounded from Caitlin, drawing his attention and his eyes to her face. It was an easy look to read.

"You do remember a while back, when we let you out of the pipeline and Barry told you that you are part of this team, right? That means you can lean on us. We know you're human, Harry. You're allowed to get upset and angry. I'd prefer if you'd not take it out on innocent mirrors and hands. There's a punching bag in the gym." She paused, watching his reaction to see if she was getting through to him. From the slow warmth building in his eyes, she thought she was.

"We need to be here for each other if we're going to make it through. I'm sorry about Jesse leaving. Tomorrow I'll call her on the phone we gave her and send her to my mother. She'll be okay. If you want to do right by her, maybe you can try to be the man she always thought you were."

"Then you might ask her for guidelines for me because I'm not sure how to do that," Harry answered with a chuckle and a small smile.

"I can do that," Caitlin agreed gently. "Now, you need to rest." She stood, getting ready to follow him back to his quarters. The look of pain and sadness on his face stopped her. "You can sleep here tonight if you want." Swallowing a lump of pain, he nodded.

"Thank you," he began. His gaze flicked to the floor and Caitlin nodded. As she stepped away, he held onto her hand. "Caitlin." The use of her first name stopped her so that she turned back to him. In that one word he had managed to convey thanks and need. "Please. I'm not sure I can do this alone."

Sitting back down on the bed, she studied his eyes for a long minute of silence. Eventually, she nodded her head. "I could use the company too. I'll just get the lights." Standing once more, Caitlin went just far enough to turn down the lights and returned to the bed. When she sat, he tentatively reached out. The embrace was both slow and fast. Harry was hesitant but it felt like he was instantly melded to her, his arms wrapping around her, his head and red rimmed eyes buried in her shoulder.

"Thank you," came the muffled words from the man. Humming an answer, Caitlin gently leaned back so that they were stretched the length of the bed, Harry's side against hers, his arms clinging to her. They stayed like that for so long that Caitlin thought he'd fallen asleep. "I'm sorry it turned out that Jay is Zoom," he whispered softly.

"I am too," Caitlin responded, gently stroking his cheek and running a hand through his hair. Her mother had done that for her when she'd been upset as a child. It seemed to work for Harry as she felt tense muscles relax and his breathing steadied and slowed. "But I'm glad that Zoom brought you into my life. You're a much better Harrison Wells than the one I knew."

"Give me time. I'm trying to do a better job at this human thing," he answered, a hint of amusement in his voice. In the darkness, Caitlin couldn't see his face, but she could sense the smile tug at his lips.

"Harry," Caitlin began. He hummed a response. "Go to sleep. We have a lot of work to do in the morning." They shared a chuckle, fell silent, and eventually drifted off to sleep.


End file.
